One Encounter

Each day is granted by God as an opportunity to do his will, share the gospel and bring him glory, and today God opened all doors of opportunity for me and my ACF family. Tonight's program was outreach night, where the committee had made several care packages with candy, small snacks and a small booklet on the gospel for us to give out and share. To be honest, I knew about this program for a while now, but the reality didn't set in until after the final prayer before we went out. I didn't realize what I was about to do, but the entire program was enriching, challenging and life-changing.

The outline of the program was simple, go share your faith with a stranger. Here's my experience on the night, what went through my mind and what happened.

I was paired up with a good friend of mine and we got five care packages. Given about 40 mins of time, I was really surprised thinking "how are we going to give these all out in time?" but I was reminded that there was no competition and you didn't have to give it all out by the end. So we went.

We were all assigned a specific location so we would not all be jumbled up in the same spot, and once I got to the area, and the reality of it had settled it, I started to panic and freak out. I didn't feel confident, I wasn't sure of how to go about it, who we were going to ask, how to pop the question, what to do, what to say, but before we took any more steps ahead, we turned to God. For strength, for power, for courage. It was so reassuring to be reminded that it is all in God's hands, he is working through us, the Spirit dwells in us and speaks for us, and that we are only instruments, planting seeds in people's hearts in hopes to see God work in them.

We decided to scout the place to see who we wanted to approach, I personally did not want to approach anyone who was in a conversation or was with someone because I didn't want to disturb them, so I decided to look for someone who was alone, we found a few people, but even then I was still hesitant, scared to just go for it, it was like heading into uncharted waters in the dark. My friend spotted one girl and we decided to approach her. We both took a deep breath, and I just said, "im going in."

Throughout the chat, it was interesting to see how everything unfolded, and God really revealed himself and his works in just the span of fifteen or twenty minutes of sharing. The only thing that concerned me was a) not to have awkward silences or that would be too odd with a stranger, b) to express and speak properly, not to jumble up my words and c) how I was going to bring up the topic of faith, and Christianity.

We talked about general things to get started, what program she were in, what she were up to, and I could tell she was really confused in a sense why two random strangers came up to her to talk, but we eventually got to sit down since she wasn't too busy and was able to just chat. I won't reveal too much because it is her personal information, but seeing God's plan unfold was amazing.

It was perfect because when she started talking about her background in Catholicism, that afternoon I had just had lunch with my friend (whom I was sharing with) and he told me about his life, how he had a catholic upbringing too, so they could relate on that scale.

While we were sharing, I noticed the booklet in the care package about the gospel, and I was trying to find some sort of leeway to bring up the gospel or maybe go through the booklet with her, and when I did, I felt like it was a bit overwhelming how I brought it up, but praise God, she was so open to it. We were able to go through the booklet, and it was great too because she had plenty of questions to ask. Im so glad that I was able to answer them in a sense, and when she told me "that's a really good answer", I just felt so relieved knowing the Spirit was helping me speak, that I couldn't have been relying on myself.

After we chatted, we said goodbye and wished her a good week, and I just walked out without looking back. Once I was out, I just took deep breaths, I was so overwhelmed but I just knew how great God was and how he was watching and looking out for us the entire time. We said a quick prayer for her, and we just finished there because we were running short on time.

This entire experience, it was just a short two, three hours, but it was so enriching, exhilarating and challenging. Especially to come back and hear everyone else's experiences, it's so encouraging to hear and see how God was working in each of our conversations. I dont even know how to explain it, but God is so good.

On a different note, there were a few things I was concerned about and would like to look into more if I could. Firstly, catholicism and christianity, it seems hard to talk about it, because from what I think/know (correct me if im wrong), but catholicism is different from Christianity, and technically christianity is my faith where if we believe and repent we are saved, but because they are so similar im so unsure of how to tackle people in that situation. Secondly, i've always felt like everyone has heard of the gospel on way or another, especially in developed countries, Jesus' name is used everywhere, appropriately or inappropriately in media, society and culture, but during the sharing tonight, someone said that they talked to an immigrant from China who had no beliefs whatsoever and hasn't heard of the gospel. That shocked me because I just assumed everyone has got to have heard the name "Jesus" before no? Anyways, these were just two points that came up in my mind. It's amazing to see all the challenges God has thrown at me this year, even ACF itself has never ceased to challenge and push me further and further.

Tonight was a crazy night, I was about to see God's work and goodness through one simple encounter. All glory be to Him and Him alone.

verse of the day: Matthew 10:16-20

¹⁶ “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. ¹⁸ On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, ²⁰ for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.